Hell On Fire
by poster108
Summary: A man who has no emotional ties to anyone has to survive in post-apocalyptia with just a few people with assorted skills.
1. Chapter 1

**AMC's**_** The Walking Dead **_**Fan fiction**

**Hell on Fire**

_**Prologue**_

_** "The end is near." Some bums sign was actually right. But it's not near…It's here. The dead are walking again, and I have no idea why. It's freaking the shit out of everyone though. I found a bunch of people, and we've holed up in a self-storage place. We found a bunch of cots in someone's old storage place. They ain't nice, but they'll get us through the next few weeks, 'til the generators run out. We already checked, and there ain't no more power once them generators do finally run out… And then... Then I guess we're all screwed, ain't we? **_

_**Chapter One; August 14, 2013**_

__**Things were real bad at this point. Mike said we had 'bout a week 'til no power. And the worst part is; the storage place is all indoors. Safe, but indoors. Power goes out, no windows, no light what-so-fucking-ever. **

** "Johnny! Getcher ass over here! I'm in mah room!" **_**Suite 147 it is, **_**I thought. We preferred to call 'em suites rather than, you know, storage units. It ain't much, but according to some jackass psychologist we got with us, it "helps with mind calming". What a douchebag. But, he knows better than any of us right? **

** "Shit man…We best load everyone up with some flashlights. Guards first, any extras can go to families, then single people. I think they're probably gonna run out tonight… I know I said a week at least," he interrupted me, seeing the shocked look on my face. "I know, a'right? I do… We're gonna head out once they do run out…"**

** I thanked Mike for lettin' me know 'bout this. I wasn't **_**really **_**thankful, I just… I'm not an asshole. I put out an announcement which, thinking back, wasn't that smart; wasted more power. Now that everyone knew, I thought we'd all start getting ready. I was wrong. Nine million per-cent wrong. All hell broke loose as soon as I finished that announcement. I heard the screams, the panic, and the guards trying to calm everyone down. I un-holstered my 9 mil. pistol, and headed into the hallway. I fired a shot into the air, and everyone shut their mouths real fuckin' fast.**

**-END CHAPTER ONE-**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Two

"Everybody calm down! A'right! Just… Just calm the fuck down!" The shot still rang in my ears. I ain't gonna lie, I never got used to the sound of a gun being shot, 'specially by me.

"How can we be calm when we're all gonna die! We gotta leave safety, and my wife's pregnant!" some man yelled. Suddenly everybody started jabbering again and panicking yet more. I finally snapped and pointed the pistol into the crowd. Mouths shut, I was happy. Mouths opened yet _again_ after I explained what we planned to do.

"Alright, so Mike, Tick , Seamus, Shang, and me are gonna go scout out a couple blocks, see if Zed are around, and if there's somewhere we can stay, a'right?" Mutters of agreement floated around. "A'right. That's that then."

I grabbed the five of us that were going to go out and scout and pulled them into the security office that we fashioned into our armory. I explained to them the plan once more, grabbed the keys from the key case on the wall, unlocked the cases and told them to pick. Each picked a weapon of their own and took a 9 mil. pistol; Mike grabbed a Winchester rifle, Tick a Bernelli shotgun, Seamus the same, and Shang grabbed a Skorpion sub-machine gun. I grabbed myself a C7 Carbine. My first pick would've been the LMG, but I left that for defense… just in case.

We all went to our rooms to sleep until the power failed on us. I couldn't stop thinking about what it was gonna be like. No one had been outside in months, except for the few that went on raiding parties. I was an absolute bundle of nerves. I couldn't hold my hand straight, I couldn't stop shaking in general… I was a wreck that night. And just then, the lights went out, and women and children's screams rang out, and the sound of shotgun cocks of alarm were heard.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Three

"Everyone just calm down, calm the fuck down!" I yelled down the hallways. Few people listened to my words. I clicked on my flashlight, and looked at my surroundings.

"You'll attract all the Zed!" That shut them up. I made my way to the front office, where the five of us were meeting. I came into a room with everyone in it arguing back and forth, and I didn't know why. I walked in and I saw not 4, but 5 other people. Brinnmore, the little 16 year old Irish immigrant who found us a few weeks back.

"The hell are you doing here, Brinnmore? You ain't goin' outside! You're too young, kid."

"But I can do it! I know how to use a gun! C'mon, gimme a chance!" He didn't let up with the arguing. After several minutes of deliberation, I finally gave in, seeing he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"A'right boys, we're burnin' precious hours that we need." We walked to the door, and I beckoned for the guard to hand Brinnmore his rifle, and open the door. As the door slid open, I could feel nervousness in the room; we all felt it. With a _clang_, the door was fully open. There weren't many Zed in our general area in front of the units, but we were smart enough not to think there weren't more.

Brinnmore, the eager little bastard, ran out first. I yelled at him to be careful, but he got jumped. Son of a bitch, he was right; he is good with a rifle. The thing grunted and grabbed at his arm. He pressed the lever-action rifle to the things chin, and pulled the trigger. Its grey matter shot out of its head at highway speed. My ears rang for minutes after that; Brinnmore was right in front of me when he shot it.

He looked at me with such a triumphant look on his face, I couldn't help but smile. I told everyone to follow me, and I took the lead, being careful not to fire too many shots; we had a theory that they were attracted to noises. Even Brinnmore, trigger-happy as he was, was careful not to fire too much.

We rounded the corner, and there they were.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Four

"RUN! RUN BACK!" The Zed had already seen me, so I didn't care if they heard me. "GO! GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"

There musta been 200 of 'em. Christ almighty, the guns were real loud. Everyone was firin' off shots at them. A hell-uv-a lot o' shots from the shotguns, the SMG, and the rifles. I jumped in on the firing with my C7. A bunch of 'em fell real fast. Maybe fifty. We turned on a damn dime and ran with everything we could. Maybe 6 other guards ran out in front of us. I told them to get the hell outta there, but they didn't listen.

I heard them firing, and as quickly as the shooting started, it stopped. They killed maybe 12 Zed between the 6 of 'em, but the Zed got the better of them. Poor bastards, they never stood a chance once the dead were riled up from us. I didn't look back after that. We ran straight to the warehouse.

We got into the parking lot, and there were more Zed. And the guards, fuckin' idiots, never closed the damn front door. The Zed were inside, and I heard screams and gunfire. I was so shocked, I didn't even register that everyone else was getting' their asses outta there. I looked at Brinnmore to tell him to run, but he was halfway down the block, yellin' at me to do the same. I turned and ran, and more Zed started after me.

All of us were followin' Mike, 'cause he was the one who took us all in; He had been the manager of the Storage King we were stayin' at, and everyone who found that place, he took in. He was a crazy son-of-a bitch with any gun, and a hell-of-a humane guy when he needed to be. He beckoned into some old gas station, and we all ducked inside. All of us 'cept Shang.

"Shang, hurry!" I yelled at him. But he was done for. The Zed caught up to him, and they was munchin' down on him real fast. I took my C7, and shot him once in the head; he didn't deserve to suffer like that. And just like that, we were five strong again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Five

The shot still rang out, but more than usual. I found Shang being swarmed by the Zed, couple months back, and took him back to the Units. And it just didn't seem real that he could've ever died. He wasn't never a bad guy, just in the wrong place at the wrong time; he had been in prison before the outbreak, for a crime he said, to the day he died, he ain't never committed. And I believed him every day that he said he didn't do it.

"Poor bastard… The fuck did he ever do to deserve that? He ain't earned a death…" Mike spoke some serious hardcore words, that got us all right in the heart, man. That shit was heavy.

We didn't talk too much after that, that night. We lost a lot of people, a lot of guns, and a lot of equipment; first aid shit, cots, ammo… everything. And Shang was positively irreplaceable. But we had to work through it; Zed knew we were in here, and considering the door was half glass, they weren't gonna be outside for long.

"There a back way out?" I asked Seamus. He quickly scuttled to the back to check, and Mike followed him; we always used the buddy system, even in the Storage King. You just never know when a Zed's gonna sneak in. That was why we had guards… But they were all dead now, so that shit don't even matter no more.

"There's a back door, and by the looks of it, there's no Zed there, but we gotta hurry." Seamus came back to report. I gave Brinnmore a quick nod, and the five of us grabbed the couple drinks there were left in the fridge and ran our asses outta that deathtrap. The Zed were smart enough to see us and ran around to the back. We sprinted before they saw us get to the hotel across the way. We ran inside. We shut the heavy, metal door and locked it, and felt real fuckin' relieved the whole ordeal was over.

Then we heard the unmistakable cock of a shotty.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Six

"The hell are you doin' here?" A strange, masculine voice yelled at us from the darkness of that hallway. We all pointed our weapons into random points, hoping he'd be intimidated.

"I asked you a question!" He yelled at us again. His voice sounded somehow familiar…

"Ben?" I called out. "John? Is that you, Johnny boy?" It was my old friend Ben. I knew him from when I worked in the factory. He slapped a hug on me, and we caught up pretty fast. I told him how I had been living in the Storage King down the way for the last few months, how the generators went out, and how the guards there turned out to be absolutely retarded and left the door open.

"Yeah, and that right there was Shang." I concluded the speech with the loss of Shang. He told me he felt for us, and we were welcome to stay in the hotel as long as we wanted. He introduced us to his fellow survivors, Jane and Henry. I shook their hands, and said we'd stay there 'til the Zed cleared out. Then we'd find a new place.

It was nice to have a safe place to stay, at least for now. I knew we couldn't stay in that hotel. The only back way out was blocked off, so we really only had one way out, and that absolutely screams deathtrap. If Zed ever got in here, we were screwed. That's why we weren't going to stay there longer than we had to.

That night was real comfortable, what with the sleeping on a five star hotel's beds. Plus, they still had water, and a bit of power, so I could actually see and take a shower. That was the best shower I'd ever had in my life. I lay down on my bed, hair still wet, and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Seven

Several days went by without incident. Zed were still out there, but declining in numbers every day. I pulled Seamus, Brinnmore, Mike, and Tick with me into a room. I told them we were going to head out tomorrow, if there were few enough Zed. I went over my plan with them; we would run across the street to the gas station, and from there, if the coast was clear, we'd head over to the Storage King. We just couldn't leave all that shit behind. There were way too many guns, equipment, and possibly survivors that we needed.

"So you're all clear on the plan, then? I asked them. They all muttered and nodded in agreement. "A'right then." We spent our last night at the hotel, more than a little agitated. We might all die the very next day.

When morning came, I woke up, ate some rations, and woke the others up. I didn't bother waking up our gracious host, but left him a note thanking him for his hospitality, and saying that we took a few ration packs, because we didn't know if there were any left at the Storage King.

"Ready guys?" I opened the door slowly and cautiously. "Go, go, go, go…" I whispered at them as they went out one by one. We ran to the gas station. The Zed didn't really notice us much. A few of them glanced over, but other than that, we didn't seem to attract any attention. The gas station's door was still wide open, and we ducked inside and shut it as quietly as possible. We did a quick search of the place, and found a dead body with a 44. Magnum and a few rounds.

We slowly opened the front door of the gas station, the glass of which had been broken by the Zed days ago, when we first got out of there. I ushered them all out one by one, for a reason; if we all went out at once, the Zed could get us all at once.

The five of us quickly ran over to the Units. We all kept looking around, all of us real nervous, 'cause we didn't know if the Zed were right on our asses.

"Go in, quick!" I whispered to them, as they all filed into the Storage King. The door was still wide the fuck open. We ran inside, and saw a few Zed. We tried to kill them without bullets; noise attracts them. We had confirmed the theory days ago, the night Shang…

We ran in in a single file line. We made it to the security office, and there were lots of guns in there. We all cheered quietly, because we knew we were gonna be fine for weapons. We then ran to the room we used as the cafeteria, where we found a shitload of rations, water bottles, and medicine. We were gonna be alright. For now, anyway.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Eight

We grabbed everything we could, including a couple extra bags, to carry yet more crap. But man, the take on that load… Jesus... There was so much shit; Advil, insulin, assorted supplement and medicinal pills, painkillers, ration packs and other random dried food, a lot of water bottles, a hot plate and lots of fuel… Even a bit of, uh… 'inspiration', if you get what I mean. Pot, if you don't.

"C'mon guys, we gotta get outta here." Mike ushered our asses outta there. We all started ditchin' the cafeteria. But, I think the Zed caught on, 'cause by the time we got outta the building… holy shit, they was everywhere. And they knew we were there, too, 'cause they tried to get to us. But they weren't runnin' at us yet; they only seemed to _really _try to get us once we started shooting. I dunno why, but it was in their psyche, I guess.

"C'mon! Hurry!" Mike yelled at us. "Seamus, you're from 'round here, ain'tcha? Where's somewhere we can hunker down 'til the dead are off our asses?" Seamus told him that there was an old police station a few blocks away, and Mike made the decision to let Seamus lead us there.

"Just down this way! Down here! C'mon! Over here!" Seamus kept barking directions at us. I didn't particularly like it. Seamus and I wasn't what you would call 'friends', so much as 'coworkers'. Our relationship was purely stickin' together to survive. Had I met him before all this shit went down, no communication between us woulda been made.

By now, there was Zed absolutely fuckin' everywhere. I said, fuck it, and I was the first to shoot. The others were clearly ready to do so at that exact same time, 'cause they fired off their first shots right after me. We ran for a good 5 blocks 'fore someone said somethin'.

"Guys, I'm low on ammo! There was no extra at the armory!" Brinnmore was clearly desperate, 'cause he threw his ammo container down; it just weighs you down once it's empty. "Last… four shots!"

He fired them off, yelled some inaudible words at me, to which I didn't really respond further than tossing him my 9mm; he dropped his a couple blocks back. But I think at this point, we was all low on ammo, 'cause the firin' rate started slowin' down. But it was alright, 'cause the amount of Zed also started to deteriorate.

"Holy fuck! Where's Tick!" Seamus called out, and we all stopped dead. There were only a few of the dead left; nothin' we couldn't handle with just the butts of our weapons. We all looked around, but no sign of him. Suddenly, I heard gunfire, decently far away.

"For Christ's sake!" I cried out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter 9

"Tick! Tick, get out here already!" We called his name out down the street in search for him.

"God damn… Look," Brinnmore said as he pointed to a lonely shotgun on the ground; Ticks shotgun. "Tick!" we all continued to call. We heard a faint but distinctly Tick-ish groan from down an alley. We all looked at each other, then booked it down the side of the buildings.

"Tick! Oh thank fuck!" Mike said as we got to him. He was lying on the ground, leg bleeding. I asked him what happened, and he told me he broke his leg. When I tried to roll up his pant leg to look at it, he pushed me away, saying it hurt too much and to bandage it over top of the denim of his jeans. I trusted Tick on this one; anyone else and I would've had my doubts, but Tick was a smart guy. Plus, he was mean and nasty and tough as nails; he could drop my ass any day, broken leg or no.

I got Brinnmore to bandage it up, seeing as how he was first aid trained; and his dad had been an EMT. We helped Tick up, but he was in real bad condition; he was really pale as soon as he stood up, and couldn't so much as walk on his own. Seamus and I helped him, while Brinnmore and Mike took point. On our way out, Mike grabbed the shotgun Tick had dropped.

"God damn, that hurts…" Tick announced halfway down the block. He wasn't doing well at all. Still real pale, still putting little to no weight on it; poor bastard. Without proper medical attention, Brinnmore informed us, he could die. That was the least of our worries.

"The hell was that?" Noone knew what I was talkin' about, but I know what I saw. As we were hobbling along ever so slowly, I looked up and saw someone close the curtain in one of those houses. I gave Tick's arm to Brinnmore and immediately ran up to the door. I banged real hard. I heard some shuffling inside, no doubt someone getting a gun ready in case I tried to force my way in. I didn't, 'cause I ain't that stupid. I banged real hard, and shouted at them to open the door; we had hurt people and lots to offer.

I banged for a good 15 minutes, and the others were just making it up to the gate. I finally gave up, and as I walked away, the door creaked open behind me.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Ten

I turned on my heel to see not a gun, but a man holding his hand out, not to me, but to Tick.

"C'mon, you need some doctorin'." The man helped Tick inside. He was already helping Tick out by the time we stepped inside and shut the door behind us. There was only one other guy in there. Clearly, the guy who helped us had been a doctor. He knew what the fuck he was doin'. He was askin' the other dude to grab him tools and scalpels and what-not. He went to cut Tick's jeans up the seam so he could look at his leg, and Tick immediately resisted. The doc calmed him down, and cut it. The others and I were in the next room; I didn't wanna see no bone stickin' outta anyone's leg.

The doctor walked into the kitchen, where we were.

"Damn," he said. "He ain't got no broken leg… He's… He's bit." The look on Brinnmore's, Seamus' and Mike's faces were absolutely unexplainable. I imagine the look on mine was no better. We was all shocked. Tick was a fuckin' soldier, how could _he _ever get bit? Damn, that night was rougher than usual. I mean, you never slept well in the apocalypse, but there's some nights…

I went back in the other room to talk to him.

"Hey, Tick," I said. He responded back kind of nully; you could tell he had accepted that he was going to die.

"I shouldn't have run off like that, man. It's my own damn fault.

"It's not, Tick. I know you ran away, and you shouldn't have. But…" I couldn't finish. I had no reason why it wasn't his fault. I couldn't think of one. I just walked away and didn't look back. I heard him slump back on the couch he was lyin' on while I walked out.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Eleven

The next couple days were tense, to say the least. Shit man, Tick bit? Days later and it was still fresh in everyone's minds… His condition kept getting' worse; everyday he was a bit more pale, a bit more in pain… He was just all-around worse.

Every damn day the doctor who saved us, who we just called Doc, told us we should just shoot Tick. He said he was in a lot more pain than he was lettin' on, and that he could turn in a flash and we'd all be dead. And for that reason, but not _only _that reason, we always kept pistols on us. He turns, boom. No more Tick.

Maybe a week after we got there, we was havin' dinner and one of Doc's boys came rushing into the kitchen.

"He's gone, Doc. Tick's gone, and he ain't comin' back. What should we do?" Doc hesitated, then told us to help him carry Tick's body. We went into the living room, covered him in some old bedsheets, and took him into the backyard. We set him on the ground beside a hole I didn't realize had been there. Doc told us they had dug the hole for when Tick…

So anyways, we put a knife in Tick's head, and set him gently in the hole, put a couple of planks together for a grave marker, said a few words, and went back in the house. I was practically crying; Brinnmore actually was. We were all real close to Tick; he was a part of this group, a damn big part. Then I noticed something…

"Where the hell's Mike?" I looked around. We all started going around the house, looking for Mike. Suddenly, there was a bang on the door. I grabbed a shotgun, and nodded at Brinnmore to open the door. When he did, I immediately lowered the shotgun; it was Mike.

"I couldn't sit there while you guys stabbed him in the head and buried him… I just couldn't," he explained. I understood; Mike had been training Tick to be the next engineer in the colony, so they were really fuckin' close.

After that, we only spent a few more days at Doc's house 'fore headin' out. We thanked Doc for everything he had done for us, grabbed all our guns, including Tick's, 'cept we left Doc with Tick's shotgun, and headed down the street. Mike had found a map of the city in the gas station a while back, and told us there was a small mall just down the road. We headed down towards it in hopes of there being a camping store or something in there, but no damn guarantees.

There weren't many Zed along the way; our last massacre had pretty much cleared this particular part of town. It wasn't long 'til they all started flocking again, but we were safe for a while.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Twelve

"C'mon, they're startin' to pick up. We gotta hurry." Mike was sayin'. We were gettin' close to the mall, but Mike was real shaky since Tick…

We rounded a corner and found some chick running away. I yelled after her to stop, but she didn't. I didn't really expect her to, though. Not nowadays. I looked at the guys, and ran after her. I heard them mutter as I ran, and they yelled at me that they'd meet me at the mall doors if they could.

"Hey! Stop, would ya?" I yelled. I rounded a corner to see this really beautiful woman pointing a .357 magnum revolver in my face. She had blue eyes like water, flowing blonde hair, and she looked real nice in that tank top and khakis.

"Kay, I stopped. What the hell do you want?" She had an Australian accent, and damn it was sexy. I must've looked real fuckin' stupid then, 'cause I felt a little bit like it. My jaw was wide the fuck open, and she obviously noticed. She looked a bit taken aback, but also a bit flattered at the same time. She looked me up and down before lowering the gun. I could tell she was checking me for bites.

"You don't seem bit. What's your name?" I told her my name was John, and she told me hers. Ashley. "What happened to your buddies?" I told her they were waiting at the mall for me, and I invited her. She didn't hesitate too long to give me a yes. These days, you didn't wait too long at all before saying yes to a group of people settled down somewhere, unless, of course, they're bitten or real fucked up.

We got to the mall entrance not a moment too soon. There were plenty of Zed, and the others were about to give up on us and go find somewhere to hunker down. We got inside, but not before shooting off plenty of rounds; she was a real good shot. We got in, hit the security lock in the office beside the door, and put down the little steel gate they use to deter thieves. Or rather, used to use to deter thieves. We began to look around for a camping store, a gun store, a knife store; anything that would help the current situation.

We looked for a solid hour before finding somethin'. Little shop, not too much in it, but there was a first-aid kit, axes, knives, and a couple small firearms. Clearly someone else had hunkered down here, and perhaps still were there. We closed the gate, and had someone guarding the door while the rest of us got some sleep. Brinnmore took first watch. I fell asleep pretty damn quick that day.

_"Kay, I stopped. What the hell do you want?" "I want you." We were making out, and it escalated. Still kissing, I stripped her of her clothes, and was about to do the dirty and then…_

"Guys, get up!" I awoke with a start. _Damn, _I thought. _Just a dream._ "Guys, there's a couple people here who say this is their setup. Mike ran over with his rifle to the security gate. They argued for a bit while the rest of us just kinda rubbed the sleep out of our eyes. I got up, grabbed my shotgun, and went over to see what the hubbub was.

"This is _our _place. We made it, we supplied it with half this shit, it's _ours_." The obvious leader was saying. Mike told him to piss off and go away. The guy pointed his gun in Mike's face, but wasn't gonna fire it; we had them outnumbered two to one, and he knew it.

"Why don't we just join up together?" I asked. Mike looked at me like I just told him to shoot his own mother.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hell On Fire**

Chapter Thirteen

"Join up? With them!" Mike was clearly angry at me. I didn't know what it was that I said, but he was _not _happy with me at all.

"These bastards," Mike pointed his thumb at the leader of the other group. "are nothing but thieves and murderers! They were in an old gang who used to come and terrorize the Storage King!"

"Yeah, more like you bastards-" Mike held his finger up and continued speaking.

"These sons of bitches came in one day and killed Julio. He was some immigrant who worked there." He continued to hold his finger up in case the other man began to protest. "They _said _Julio was in debt of them. I still don't believe them."

"Mike, the only way we're going to survive is if we pull together, _not _apart." I said to him forcefully. Mike looked a little bit flabbergasted at this, but didn't say anything further. He opened the security gate to let them in.

The gang leader immediately tossed his gun aside and pulled out a knife. Mike never had time to react. The bastard stabbed Mike six times in the back while the other two of his boys pulled out weapons, one of them an axe, one a hammer. I immediately pumped two rounds into the one with the axe, then turned my shotgun onto the one with the hammer. It was too late for me though, because Ashley had already shot him in the chest twice with her .357. Brinnmore cried out with dismay and didn't shoot, but ran over to the man who stabbed Mike.

The leader threw Mike's lifeless body, blood pouring down his front, aside as Brinnmore ran over. That little shit didn't have time to register what was happening. Brinnmore immediately whacked him across the head with the butt-end of his Winchester. That son-of-a-bitch went down like a sack of potatoes. Brinnmore was on top him, beating him senselessly with the rifle. The gangster was curled up in a ball taking blow after blow to the head, back, sides… Everything was getting hit, really. Brinnmore was not letting up, screaming out of rage amidst the screams of agony from the gang leader.

The rest of us watched in horror as hits turned to cuts turned to virtual stabs turned to bones sticking out. He was already dead, but Brinnmore kept hacking away at the corpse. Ashley was the first to step in. She went behind him, and grabbed the rifle as Brinnmore wound up for yet another hit.

"Calm down, boy! He's dead." Brinnmore turned on the heel to look in her face. For the first time, I was watching this 16 year old boy crying. His face was soaked with tears.

"How can I calm down?" He said through weeps. "Mike led us, Mike kept us together! And that bastard just… just…stabbed him!" He sat down on the floor and buried his face into his knees. I looked over at Mike's body. I didn't cry, not because it didn't matter to me, but because I was so shocked. Brinnmore was right; Mike was the life and soul of this group. He kept us together when we wanted to be apart, kept us moving when we wanted to stop… Kept us alive when we wanted to just lay down and die. There was no way to replace him.

Then, I just heard nothing. I heard a ringing, and that was all. I remembered all those old war movies and how there was this thing called shell shock. I assumed it was kinda like that, and I just went over to a chair in the shop and sat down.

Suddenly, it all came back to me. I heard the agitated Zed outside the front doors of the mall, clawing and hacking at the glass doors, trying their hardest to get in to eat us. I asked Brinnmore, Seamus, and Ashley to help me with the bodies. Seamus picked up Mike's body to go put him in a safe place, and the rest of us grabbed the bodies of the gang members to toss them out for the Zed. The one who grabbed the gory, completely destroyed body was, of course, Ashley.

We dumped the bodies off the second floor and went back down the stairs to the little shop to discuss what to do next.


End file.
